Staff of Airmaster based in Sheffield are delighted to be part of the UK Employee Ownership Day (EO Day), run by the Employee Ownership Association (EOA), on Friday 24th June 2022.
We’re taking part in this year’s EO Day which has the theme of #GrowEO, to celebrate and showcase how employee ownership has helped to grow our business, our employee owners and the economy.
Airmaster are delighted to mark EO Day 2022, a year on from when the company transitioned into employee ownership.
Formed in 1992 and employing 37 people, the employee owned national mechanical services, air conditioning, heating and plumbing and maintenance business is proud to celebrate employee ownership alongside others in the sector across the UK, as Lisa Pogson, Managing Director for Airmaster, explains:
“Airmaster is a family-feel business with a close-knit team, the ethos of employee ownership was already there. I feel really positive about what we have done. I’m so glad we didn’t sell it to a buyer, and we kept it in the team, because we’ve put all the effort and hard work in. We had the possibility of being bought out and it felt like it wouldn’t stay with the same Airmaster ethos.”
James de le Vingne, CEO for the Employee Ownership Association, said:
“Companies such as Airmaster are great examples of the economic and social benefits that can be achieved when employees have a stake and a say in the business in which they work.
“Over the last ten years since we began celebrating EO Day, the UK employee-owned sector has grown significantly. This year we will be asking, how can we make it grow even more quickly in half the time?
“By making as much noise as possible we can to help raise awareness with business owners, professional advisers and stakeholders to help #GrowEO.”
With numerous events running across the UK and the involvement of thousands of employee owners and other partners,EO Day is an integral part of the EOA’s events calendar and was introduced to raise awareness of employee ownership as an economically strong and balanced business model.
The benefits of employee ownership have been proven in EOA-led research, and include improving employee health and wellbeing, increasing productivity and fostering creativity and innovation across an array of industry sectors. In addition:
- UK employee owned companies contribute over £30 billion to the UK economy annually
- Employee-owners have higher levels of job satisfaction, feel a greater sense of achievement and job security, and are more likely to recommend their workplace than employees in non-employee owned businesses
- Employee owned businesses operate in a range of sectors including healthcare, social care, education, transport, manufacturing, retail and professional services